Raj Kundra peddled porn via app, diverted funds to UK: Business partner – Times of India

The Hotshot app was set up by Armsprime Ltd, in which Kundra and Saurabh Kushwaha were directors. Kushwaha, who held 35% stake, said control of the app, including uploading videos, was in the hands of Kundra, reports Ahmed Ali. Hotshot was sold to UKbased Kenrin Ltd with Kundra quitting as Armsprime director a day prior to the sale.

Meanwhile, Kundra’s wife and actor Shilpa Shetty, who is cited as witness No. 39, has stated that she was busy and never asked him about the nature of his work.

Forensic audit reveals laundering of revenues from app: Chargesheet


Actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra started Viaan Industries in 2015 which was into making animation, cartoons and apps, she said. Shilpa said that in February when the crime branch busted the pornography case and arrested Umesh Kamat, Kundra’s PA, she asked her husband about it. She said he told her that arrested model Gehana Vashist alias Vandana Tiwari and Kamath have independently shot and uploaded the porn movies.

The police chargesheet says a forensic audit also reveals money laundering of the revenues generated from Hotshot. The funds were diverted using Google and Apple apps to Kenrin’s account in Lloyds Bank in the UK even before the sale by Armsprime.

“The revenues generated from the Hotshot app from August 2015 to December 2020 were transferred by Google and Apple Inc to the bank account of Kenrin maintained with Lloyds Bank in the UK instead of Armsprime Indian account. This indicated that the revenues that were earned and accrued on sale of the Hotshot app were diverted and laundered to Kenrin Ltd’s UK bank account during the directorship of Kundra in Armsprime Ltd.” Police have also attached the details of the revenues generated from the sale of subscriptions of Hotshots on Apple and Google.

Kushwaha said he was in the dark about the operations as Kundra and the company’s tech head, Ryan Thorpe, handled the show. One of the mails retrieved during the forensic auditing cites an email between Kundra and Kushwaha where the former mentions waiving off loans to Armsprime on condition that ownership of the OTT platforms are transferred to his servers. The audited balance sheet of Armsprime reveals there are outstanding loans for an amount of Rs17.9 lakh payable to Kundra as on March 31, 2019, said the chargesheet. This establishes Kundra is a director in Armsprime and also instrumental in deciding the sale consideration of the Hotshot app and its mode of payment.

Hotshot was sold to Kenrin in the UK on December 12, 2019. A day prior to the sale, Kundra resigned from the directorship of Armsprime. The chargesheet cites an email between Kundra and Kushwaha on January 6, 2020, which indicates purchase consideration and mode of payment were carried out with their mutual knowledge.